Our attorneys are experienced at structuring a wide array of corporate transactions on behalf of health care clients and those in other industries. Transactional experiences include joint ventures, mergers, affiliations, and strategic alliances. With its unique regulatory and corporate experience in the health care field, we have been instrumental in expediting necessary approvals to facilitate transactions and operational integrations.

Our transactional practice includes the formation and dissolution of all types of business entities. We are also experienced in general corporate representation, including the filing of annual reports, the preparation of corporate resolutions and unanimous consents, the drafting and review of corporate minutes, the preparation of board summaries, the amendment of formation documents and bylaws, and the drafting and negotiation of shareholder and operating agreements.

We routinely provide guidance to health care organizations to assist them with licensure issues, reimbursement issues, and compliance with existing and newly-adopted state and federal regulations. Our attorneys are also uniquely qualified to provide guidance to behavioral health treatment providers on HIPAA compliance. We have conducted numerous trainings and have established HIPAA task forces for providers, as well as served as consultants to provider associations, DHS/DASA and DSAT on HIPAA compliance issues for health care providers.

Our attorneys have created corporate compliance programs to meet the specific needs of health care providers. We are available to conduct presentations to health care providers on the steps required to implement a corporate compliance program, provide guidance on the formulation and implementation of compliance programs, and conduct in-house trainings for staff on various compliance program components.

We have researched and responded to medical record subpoenas and addressed issues pertaining to mental health, substance abuse and HIV/AIDS confidentiality. In addition, our attorneys have provided guidance concerning the mandate to report child abuse and neglect. We have also advised clients on MIS issues concerning the confidentiality of computerized records and information forwarded over the Internet.

Our firm has unique expertise in the HIPAA compliance area. We have served as a subcontractor to the United States Department of Health and Human Services on developing a variety of HIPAA privacy technical assistance products for providers and state agencies. Our attorneys have also conducted regional trainings for state agencies across the country on HIPAA privacy regulations and compliance.

Our attorneys have counseled health care providers regarding tax issues critical to tax-exempt organizations. We have reviewed various arrangements between tax-exempt health care providers to advise on the tax-exempt implications of such arrangements. Our attorneys have counseled on proposed restructuring arrangements to assist in compliance with tax exemption requirements.

Our attorneys have represented health care providers in select administrative and regulatory matters, including the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Internal Revenue Service, United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Illinois Department of Human Services, Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse, Illinois Department of Public Health, United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, zoning boards, and other agencies involved in licensure, reimbursement, rule making and other administrative rules.

About Popovits & Robinson

Healthcare providers today must contend with a rapidly changing environment. They are experiencing significant changes in federal and state regulatory requirements; changes in organizational structures; changes in reimbursement programs; changes in client demographics; and increased capital needs and competitive marketplace demands. In this increasingly complex and competitive environment, providers require specific legal expertise. Providers need access to attorneys with the legal focus and creativity to structure arrangements and advocate rights in a changing regulatory and competitive managed care environment.

The attorneys at Popovits & Robinson offer substantial experience in healthcare law, as well as a unique background of providing counsel on healthcare legal issues in an in-house setting. Furthermore, the attorneys at Popovits & Robinson have an appreciation for the balancing of business, financial, political, clinical, medical, legal and ethical decisions that providers encounter. This experience enables the attorneys to provide comprehensive legal advice to their clients, while taking into consideration management, business and clinical issues. In addition, the attorneys at Popovits & Robinson are experienced transactional lawyers, working closely with their business clients to not only serve their legal needs, but to help accomplish their business goals in a variety of industries.

Renée Popovits, Founder and Principal Attorney at Popovits & Robinson, was recently featured on the cover of Chicago Lawyer magazine. In the article, titled “The Health Record Superhighway: Who’s Writing the Rules of the Road? And What Are They?”, Renée draws upon her vast experience at the forefront of health information exchange, including as Co-Chair of the Substance Abuse Legal Work Group of the Illinois Office of Health Information Technology (OHIT), to discuss the need for including behavioral health patient information into health information exchange and the barriers that currently exist to a truly integrated system of care. Click the magazine to view the article in its entirety.

The federal substance abuse confidentiality law and regulations were enacted in 1972 out of concern that individuals not be made more vulnerable as a result of seeking treatment for a substance use disorder. However, since that time, our nation’s health care delivery system, including the landscape for the delivery of substance use disorder treatment, has dramatically changed. Further, the regulations at 42 CFR Part 2 pose a considerable barrier to the sharing of health information for care coordination and integration purposes as contemplated by the Affordable Care Act. Thus, in an effort to further advance the important conversation around confidentiality, Renée Popovits, Founder and Principal Attorney, Laura Ashpole, Associate, and Kelly Whelan, former Senior Attorney, have published a white paper with Thompson’s Health Care Compliance Expert which proposes seven specific updates to 42 CFR Part 2 that are reflective of the changes that have taken place and lessons learned since the SUD Confidentiality Law and 42 CFR Part 2 were enacted more than 40 years ago. It is our hope that the regulations can be practically revised to contemplate this new era of health care and ensure that individuals requiring treatment receive the best possible care and are afforded the confidentiality protections they deserve. Click on the picture to the right to view a complete copy of the white paper.

Over the last year, Popovits & Robinson and various colleagues of the firm conducted polling of interested stakeholders on 10 questions regarding the following important topics as they relate to 42 CFR Part 2: patient choice, electronic health records and health information, sharing of health information contemplated by the Affordable Care Act (ACA), stigma and discrimination, inherent tensions between 42 CFR Part 2 and the ACA, and potential updates to 42 CFR Part 2. Polling was conducted at the following conferences: CiMH’s 14th Annual Behavioral Health Information Management Conference and Exposition, ASAM’s 45th Medical-Scientific Conference, and the National Council for Behavioral Health Conference. Click on the picture to the left to view the results from these important polls.